Ole Jørgen Hammeken was at sea far inside the Arctic Circle when an Inuit elder found a crumpled business card in the pocket of his waterskin coat that had survived nearly a decade of hurricanes and storms. It belonged to Donald Trump Jr.
The younger Trump had met Hammeken in 2016, hoping the Greenland resident and ice explorer would take him musk ox hunting with a bow and arrow in the north of the island. But then his father ran for US president and the trip ended.
Now, nearly a decade later, the Trumps were back Greenland.
Trump Jr arrived in the capital Nuuk for a surprise five-hour visit this week, shortly after Donald Trumpsoon he decided to become the president of the US again, he said that he wanted to buy the island – which is part of the kingdom of Denmark – and refused to prevent the use of military force to do so.
It threw a huge, ice-covered land, with 57,000 people living in the coldest and most remote corners of the world, into a national storm. EU leaders have struggled to respond to a perceived regional threat from a NATO ally.
In Nuuk, where temperatures are below zero most of the year and the winter hours are short, Trump's comments did not bother many. Greenlanders, many residents of Nuuk say, have tended to withdraw from the conflict in everyday life, and were shocked by Trump's aggressive tone.
For others, it was intimidating, Hammeken said.
“Many people are offended,” said Kuupik Kleist, the former prime minister of Greenland. They didn't enjoy discussing their country like real estate.
“You don't go out and buy a country, or its people,” Kleist said.
But Hammeken believes there is a shift in Trump's interest in the island.
Many Greenlanders are familiar with the president-elect's style and know not to take him too literally, Hammeken said. They are glad that it has brought the question of Greenland's future to the attention of the world.
“Now Denmark must listen,” Hammeken said.
Presented by Denmark in the 18th century, Greenland has long sought self-government. Although it is now an independent Danish territory and has the power to make decisions on many subjects except foreign policy and security, all Greenlanders who spoke to the FT in Nuuk said they wanted more political control.
“No one here wants to be part of the US, but they want more influence on things,” said Bolette Nielsen, a mining consultant from a small group of towns and settlements on Greenland's east coast.
At a grocery store near Nuuk's Colonial Harbor district, where a statue of a Danish-Norwegian preacher hangs over the fjord and is often splashed with paint by protesters, Nielsen said Greenland's biggest political fault line is between those who want more independence as part of Denmark, and those who feel Greenland can go completely on its own.
Either way, “Trump caused a lot”, Nielsen said. “Denmark will have to listen to Greenland more. We have been crying for this for a long time.”
Greenlanders give many reasons for wanting to remove Danish rule. Some describe personal experiences of discrimination, while others talk about inequality in pensions and pay between Greenlanders and Danes, or differences in the provision of services such as higher education and health care.
Most of all, however, people cite the recent revelations that in the 1960s, Danish doctors placed protective coils on thousands of Inuit women without their consent, an action the Prime Minister of Greenland Múte Egede has described as a form of “genocide”.
Friday – as a news ticker in the middle of Nuuk played Trump's comments on a loop – Egede he said at a press conference that the island does not want to be part of the US or Denmark. It wanted independence.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded that this was “legal and understandable”.
Hammeken said the exchange showed that “the balance between Greenland and Denmark has changed a lot in the past few days”, thanks to Trump.
But many Greenlanders believe the island does not have a strong enough economy to cut ties with Copenhagen and go it alone. The issue is expected to dominate the upcoming election, which will be held in the spring.
“When people talk about independence, I don't really understand what it means,” said John Hansen, a musician from Nuuk. Despite feeling strongly about his native identity – Hansen has compiled a book of Greenlandic poems and songs – the artist said the freedom fighters had no plan.
Greenland, the world's largest island, remains financially dependent on Denmark, with 53 percent of its budget in 2024 made up of a direct grant from Copenhagen. “How it will be changed is a mystery to me,” Kleist said.
“We only live on the beach now, with little tourism,” he said. Fishing accounts for 90 percent of Greenland's exports, and the industry is the second largest employer after the state.
Nielsen said Greenland was “too small and too vulnerable” and needed to “strengthen other areas”.
One of those places should be minesGreenland business people say.
Although many international companies have mining licenses, and the island has valuable rare earth minerals, few projects have been implemented due to government control and the challenges presented by the landscape.
Trump's comments have boosted share prices in some domestic mining projects in recent days, with one industry insider describing “quick gold” in the air.
In the snow-covered port of Nuuk, where small fishing boats and trawlers made their way through the floating ice to the sea, fishermen laughed at the thought of joining the US. But they say there is value in transforming Greenland's trade.
“In the fishing industry, we are thinking about wanting to sell in America, not just in Denmark,” said Pavia Rasmussen as she ate a breakfast of raw seal meat in the club's dockside area. “We think it would mean a better price for the fish.”
More trade freedom could also mean cheaper food imports from the US, Nils, another fisherman, said. Food from Denmark is very expensive.
Climate change is making the work of Greenland fishermen more difficult, the men said. They are already walking through bad weather and long winter nights. Now the ice melt was affecting the supply of fish, said Ulrich, head of the trawler and fish processing plant.
That same climate change opens up Arctic waters to more mobility and therefore competition for natural resources. Greenland, Ulrich felt, was caught in the middle of Trump's “big game with Russia and China”.
Trump cited US national security as the main reason he wanted Greenland, which is home to a major US military base.
Greenlanders who hope for independence say they understand the island cannot provide its own security. But they thought military support, and trade deals, could come from many places.
“Greenland is at a stage where it wants to make a choice,” said the former government official, adding that politicians were “managing” many countries, including talking to the UK.
Trump Jr.'s visit. in Nuuk this week lasted only a few hours, but kept residents talking for days. Local media reported that some people seen wearing 'Make America Great Again' hats at the meeting were lured there by the offer of a free meal at an expensive restaurant.
But even the organizer of the trip – Jørgen Boassen, a Greenlandic architect and fan of Maga who knocked Trump in the US during the election campaign – told the Norwegian VG that Trump's comments about wanting to buy Greenland should be “taken with a pinch of salt”.
It was about the message you sent.
“He came here to show Russia and China that Trump is here,” he said.
